“[A] fresh, genre-bending thriller. . . . Reading Paolo
Bacigalupi's richly imagined novel The Water Knife brings
to mind the movie Chinatown. Although one is set in the past and
the other in a dystopian future, both are neo-noir tales with jaded
antiheroes and ruthless kingpins who wield water as lethal weapons to
control life—and mete out death. . . . Bacigalupi weaves
page-turning action with zeitgeisty themes. . . . His use of water as
sacred currency evokes Frank Herbert's Dune. The casual violence
and slang may bring to mind A Clockwork Orange. The book's
nervous energy recalls William Gibson at his cyberpunk best. Its
visual imagery evokes Dust Bowl Okies in the Great Depression and the
catastrophic 1928 failure of the St. Francis Dam that killed 600
people and haunted its builder, Mulholland, into the grave. . . .
Reading the novel in 93-degree March weather while L.A. newscasts
warned of water rationing and extended drought, I felt the hot
panting breath of the desert on my nape and I shivered, hoping that
Bacigalupi's vision of the future won't be ours.” —Denise
Hamilton, Los Angeles Times

“[A] water-wars
thriller set in the Southwest only a few decades from now. . . .
While Bacigalupi's environmental message could not be more powerful,
it's neatly embedded in a nonstop action plot, full of murders and
betrayals, that should satisfy thriller readers who didn't even think
they cared about these issues.” —Gary K. Wolfe, The
Chicago Tribune

“Mr. Bacigalupi’s is the
most thought-provoking of the recent apocalypses. It’s a very
timely read for policy-makers, as well as anyone living in the
threatened American West. That’s the thing about sci-fi authors:
Some of them really mean it.” —Tom Shippey, The Wall
Street Journal

“Residents in the
southwestern United States enduring that water crisis will appreciate
the precision with which Bacigalupi imagines our thirsty future. . .
. Bacigalupi is a grim, efficient and polished narrator. . . . Our
waterless future looks hot—and filled with conflict.”—Hector
Tobar, The Washington Post

“Bacigalupi's
characters are engagingly unpredictable, and his story blasts along
like a twin-battery Tesla. The Water Knife is splendid
near-future fiction, a compelling thriller–and inordinately
fun.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A
noir-ish, cinematic thriller set in the midst of a water war between
Las Vegas and Phoenix. . . . Think Chinatown meets Mad
Max.”—NPR, All Things Considered

“Paolo
Bagicalupi's new near-future thriller arrives at a depressingly
appropriate moment. . . . The Water Knife is
a carefully constructed thriller, with elements ofChinatown and The
Maltese Falcon. But the novel ultimately transcends its
pulpier origins. Bacigalupi offers a carefully calibrated warning of
what might happen if the US refuses to address global climate change
and its own water-wasting ways. It's one we ignore at our peril.”
—Michael Berry, Earth Island Journal

"These
days are coming, and as always fiction explains them better than
fact. This is a spectacular thriller, wonderfully imagined and
written, and racing through it will make you think—and make you
thirsty.” —Lee Child, author of Personal

"An
intense thriller and a deeply insightful vision of the coming
century, laid out in all its pain and glory. It's a water knife
indeed, right to the heart." —Kim Stanley Robinson, author of
Aurora

"Anyone can write about
the future. Paolo Bacigalupi writes about the future that we're
making today, if we keep going the way we are. It makes his writing
beautiful . . . and terrifying."—John Scalzi, author of Lock
In

"The Water Knife is
an noir-tinged, apocalyptic vision of the near-future: What will the
world be like, and how will we live in it? Bacigalupi already seems
to live there. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down.” —Kelly
Link, author of Get in Trouble

“A fresh
cautionary tale classic, depicting an America newly shaped by
scarcity of our most vital resource. The pages practically turn
themselves in a tense, taut plot of crosses and double-crosses, given
added depth by riveting characters. This brutal near-future thriller
seems so plausible in the world it depicts that you will want to
stock up on bottled water.”—Library Journal,
starred review

"The frightening details of how the world
might suffer from catastrophic drought are vividly imagined. The way
the novel's environmental nightmare affects society, as individuals
and larger entities—both official and criminal—vie for a limited
and essential resource, feels solid, plausible, and disturbingly
believable. The dust storms, Texan refugees, skyrocketing murder
rate, and momentary hysteria of a public ravenous for quick hits of
sensational news seem like logical extensions of our current reality.
An absorbing . . . thriller full of violent action."--Kirkus

Well wrought characters, a fascinating
world, and crackling prose ... Not to be missed KING OF THE NERDS

Blood Song is a remarkable and
wonderful book, and frankly, the best fantasy I have read all year
The Quillery Impressive world-building, fast-paced action and
well-crafted characters BOOKTOPIA BLOG

Gripping, thrilling, intriguing and
exciting GULF NEWS

Blood Song is unique ... The next Epic
Fantasy book everybody should read BLOTTED PAGES

A new master storyteller has hit the
scene Michael J. Sullivan

If you like your fantasy Rothfuss or
Sanderson-style this is a great book for you. It's a meaty epic
fantasy with a really strong main character. I was sucked in and
definitely want to read the next one! Felicia Day